The mass-shooting at a Black church in South Carolina will have been deeply saddening for anyone who admires the culture of the United States. The perpetrator, Dylann Storm Roof – as ugly and pathetic in appearance as his deeds are in the imagination – deserves (and will surely receive) the death penalty.

But even before this specific event, one could hardly fail to notice the loudening drumbeat of animosity between Whites and Blacks in America. Beginning with the disputed circumstances of Trayvon Martin’s death in Florida and provided with boosters in New York, Ferguson and Baltimore, the deterioration of race relations has now reached a crisis point.

There is no reason why this had to happen. Black crime rates (contrary to popular belief) are no worse than normal. Police officers (contrary to popular belief) are not being charged with brutality more often than they were. Racism, though more difficult to measure, hasn’t become noticeably more respectable or more widespread. The crisis must then be due to a wildcard factor. And in my opinion this factor is the rise in black political confidence.

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, the response in Black communities was hysterical. At long last, sympathetic commentators exclaimed, African-Americans were able to feel like an ‘equal’ and ‘legitimate’ part of American society. No longer could they be dismissed (as they so often had been) as a merely ‘tolerated’ minority group, dependant for their survival on the goodwill of the white establishment. Obama’s election meant Black Americans could finally speak out and demand an equal allotment of respect and dignity – something they were previously shy of doing, fearing the approbation of conservative loudmouths.

With that moment of empowerment, a flood was loosed. All the pent-up stories of indignity and humiliation flowed out on innumerable blogs, twitter accounts, rap lyric sheets and facebook pages. Black people, in euphoric concert, stabbed their flagpole into the soil and demanded the rest of the country adjust and update their behaviours towards them.

In this environment, events that would have previously gone unreported or passed without protest, fell like sparks on tinder. George Zimmerman, now maligned and generally despised, might have remained a little known name if not for the age of Obama. Likewise the Texas cop Eric Casebolt, now in hiding and fearful for his life, might still be at work in any other historical context.

Faced with this rise in Black entitlement, White Americans have been thrown quickly and violently onto the back foot. After riots, hashtag campaigns and endless bouts of admonition from an increasingly authoritarian liberal media, the otherwise polite Middle Classes are beginning to crack. While nothing could possibly justify the hideous murder of praying Christians, the greater context must always be examined.

The historic backdrop to our era is explosive. The White American population, for so long the comfortable masters of their native land, is declining, and declining fast. While Whites are officially due to become a minority in 2042, the real balance of power will switch long before that date. In most major American cities, Whites have been a minority for some time and this is certainly the case in the beautiful (but troubled) ‘Deep South’, the scene of Wednesday’s massacre.

As demographics continue to shift and consequent changes become visible in everyday life, White terrorism (alike Sunday’s massacre) may well become a common feature of American life. And if so, it is likely that this phenomenon will concentrate itself in ex-confederate states, beneath which racist attitudes simmer very close to the surface.

As seems to be the fashion among lone wolf terrorists, the killer at Charleston, Dylann Roof, published a manifesto before embarking on his trail of destruction. He rationalises (or attempts to rationalise) his actions as follows:

“Niggers are stupid and violent. At the same time they have the capacity to be very slick. Black people view everything through a racial lense. Thats what racial awareness is, its viewing everything that happens through a racial lense. They are always thinking about the fact that they are black. This is part of the reason they get offended so easily, and think that some thing are intended to be racist towards them, even when a White person wouldnt be thinking about race. The other reason is the Jewish agitation of the black race… It is far from being too late for America or Europe. I believe that even if we made up only 30 percent of the population we could take it back completely. But by no means should we wait any longer to take drastic action.”

“….To take a saying from my favorite film, “Even if my life is worth less than a speck of dirt, I want to use it for the good of society.””

I find that last quote rather apt. Roof’s life, as it has since been described in the media, would certainly seem to demand a low valuation. The man has prior convictions for possession of methamphetamine, is unemployed and boasts a haircut from the darkest corners of the paedophile underworld. Few people will mourn him when the final plunger is pushed.

What else is there for a European citizen to say about all this?

Well, personally I think it should be remembered (in spite of Wednesday’s events) that the issue of Black on White violence is far more urgent than the reverse. The Charleston massacre is a tragedy, a great tragedy, but thankfully it is of a very rare kind. Unprovoked Black violence on White Americans is an epidemic and must be tackled at the national level.

Nevertheless, unlike between Muslims and Europeans, I see no divide separating Blacks and Whites in America that cannot be bridged, nor any breakage that cannot be repaired. Black people have been an integral part of American culture from its violent colonial beginnings, and cannot be excised from it now. With that in mind, efforts at reconciliation would appear realistic and worthwhile. America is far too mighty to unravel.

D, LDN.

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20 thoughts on “Races at War in America.”

Good view on the present America situation over the shooting in South Carolina, and as a American reading it even more coming from not a American point of view. Race in America has been a problem since before the nation’s start, and will no doubt will continue.

The comments in the rest; yes. Race is something for usage by agents, and this has value for other purpose. The American people are generally an middle of the road group. We aren’t by nature radical. The present President isn’t, but there are agents who want a movement. They use the weak, and the under-class, and the usual list of useful idiots.

We here in America have some interesting times ahead of us over all this, but the country shall stand.

The race war predicted by Mr Roof in his manifesto depends on faulty ideas. He says the Blacks are taking over the country, but this is untrue. The Black population has remained at the same proportion (around 10%) of the national total for decades, largely the result of mass abortion. Hispanics on the other hand may well ‘take over the country’ – but not entirely, and the White population will survive as the largest group for some time.

Indeed. Many are even suggesting the whole thing is a ‘set up’ by the liberal establishment, but then they always say that. People have to realise that violence against innocent civilians will always backfire on a cause.

Indeed yes. It is a hard one to say which is more stupid – the American leftie or the American rightwing in its extreme. These events, like the shooting in South Carolina, happen. However, there is quite a wish to create a ‘movement’. It was something I saw with the one outside of St. Louis, and does keep going on.

America is always a hard nut to figure…

(Oh – Dav is back. Yours is one the few blogs that has good writing, and shows thought behind it. 🙂 )

All extremism is counterproductive. If a ‘race war’ does kick off in America, some of the guilt will lie with right-wing militias, and not just with Black and Hispanic gangs. Racial incitement is a problem across the board. I just hope America stays together. Europe needs it more than ever.

America, in my opinion, will stay together. Oh, there are elements of the nation that speak for breaking away. Frankly, that was rather well put away (and down) with the American Civil War, The notion of this had been part of the national discussion before 1860, but the actual war make the United States a ‘is’ rather than a ‘are’. Those that speak now for fools. The same type of fools that lead the southern states in the break in 1860.

As for Europe – well, we will see on that. The one thing I would say on the structure of the EU is that it is not a federation. As for the rest of the EU; glad that I do not live under the system. The leaders seem rather like overlords to me, and not answerable to the people. As for letting in so many from Africa and the Middle East; well many don’t seem to want to be part of the culture… But honestly, we here in America are having some problems on that one. However, America is a rather strong nation despite our habit of deny and putting off what needs to be done.

You have a government that is directly accountable to you. As you say, the EU are overlords and cannot be challenged by the existing mechanisms.
I find that a shame, since the idea of a united Europe is a nice one, but it simply hasn’t worked.
I strongly believe America will come to our aid in the end. America is the hero.

I think that although races undeniably exist and that different races, if left alone would have different cultural behavior and would exist in different states of development.

However, races are increasingly not left alone in their own spaces in the modern world, where even the insular East Asians are mixing at the peripheries with other races, thus diluting the whole racial identity question.
What would you call a person of mixed Brazilian Japanese and South American Mestizo parentage. Is he/she a Japanese or White or Maya?

In a deeper sense, the whole race idea in an illusion and exists only in our minds. What does race mean to a person born blind?
I beleive, that in the future, with genetic engineering, and the advancement in technology & with permanent and seamless virtual reality (with permanent implants in our corneas or even an implant to the brain itself, where we could decide what we want to see, for example a setting could render all the people I look at as White or Yellow or Black or even purple) could render the whole race issue a moot point.

In my view, culture and political ideology would become more important than Race.
I would gladly live among Westernised Christian Black Nigerians than be among Islamized and Salafi-influenced White Chechens or live in a White nation but with a Communist dictatorship, or be among Islamic/Communistic South Asians, which I beleive would be the choice for most of the readers of this blog.

Race has always been a fuzzy concept. There are obviously real (and consequential) differences between Europeans and Africans (for example). It is obvious and undeniable that Japanese people are smarter than Zulus, and so on… We can recognise these things without becoming hateful. I personally think Black gifts blend very nicely with White gifts. Popular music represents the successful marriage of White and Black forms of expression, for example.

“I would gladly live among Westernised Christian Black Nigerians than be among Islamized and Salafi-influenced White Chechens or live in a White nation but with a Communist dictatorship, or be among Islamic/Communistic South Asians….” – I concur with this.

Legend has it that Chappelle was booted off TV, due to his unwillingness to be part of the victimization narrative, by people like Oprah. It makes sense, considering his material. I loved his shows. It made fun of everybody, and he knew how to weave the comedy – the human comedy, as tragic as it can be – into it all.